Elliott to be featured at ‘Toast to Summer’

Erin Elliott will be signing copies of her books at the Fayette County Toast to Summer & Hot Air Balloon Glow in June. Photo | Kristen Edmondson

Photo courtesy of Stacy Coy

Heartsong is Elliott’s fourth book published since 2013.

Photo courtesy of Stacy Coy

Erin Elliott got her lead in writing stories when she was a high school student at Washington City schools in Washington C.H.

“English and writing were some of my favorite subjects. There’s no definite answer, like in math. Writing you can convince anybody to believe your point if you come up with enough words,” Elliott said.

And Elliott doesn’t seem to have trouble coming up with enough words—she’s written tens of thousands of words since 2010 and published four books. Elliott’s education includes a Bachelor of Science in early childhood education from Ohio University in Chillicothe and Master in early childhood education with a specialization in elementary reading and early literacy from Walden University.

Today Elliott is working as a lead teacher for children at Fayette Progressive School in Washington C.H. where she has taught for 12 years. On top of her work as a teacher and a novel writer, Elliott works for a publishing company, an editing company, and raises three kids.

“I work here all day and I go home to my three kids and it’s very busy at home—I work there,” Elliott said.

Elliott has published four young adult fantasy novels since 2013, including a trilogy called “The Sword of Lumina” and the recently published “Heartsong,” which debuted earlier this year.

“It’s like a bucket list thing, you always have things you want to do in life,” she said.

“Mira’s View,” “Mira’s Hope,” and “Mira’s Last” are the titles of Elliott’s The Sword of Lumina trilogy. Mira is a goddess who helps to guide a magic elf, Galena, on her journey. Galena’s journey is two-fold: to defeat the dictator who enslaved and robbed the elves of their power, and to learn how to overcome her fears and use her power without over-doing herself.

“Galena is born and realizes she can do magic. She is finding she can do little things, like create water and grow plants, which goes into the prophecy that one of the elves will rise up and find this sword of lumina which is necessary to beat the evil overlord enslaving the elves. He’s made of shadows and the sword of lumina is the sword of light—because only with the light can you defeat the dark,” said Elliott.

Fear is the only thing powerful enough to stop Galena. When Galena makes it to the cave where the sword of lumina is kept that she will need to use to defeat the dictator, the cave will magnify her fears.

“Galena has to find out what she is afraid of, and she’s not sure what it is. One part of it is her learning what those fears could be and how she could deal with them. She has to learn to use magic and learn her limits. She is more powerful than any other elf to ever come,” Elliott said.

Galena soon learns of the age-old adage that “with great power comes great responsibility”—in one scene Galena tries to grow a whole tree and passes out.

“You got to know your limits, some things are more taxing than others,” Elliott said.

Elliott says Galena is a character who is very much like herself: “She is independent. She has a lot of my one-liners. She is very sarcastic. At one point she shoves a piece of bread up Elenio’s nose and she laughs hysterically. That would be like me. Then when he is trying to make his serious points, she says, ‘So what you’re telling me is that you don’t like having bread shoved up your nose?’”

As Galena learns to use her power wisely, she discovers her fears: “She doesn’t want to lose her family because her greatest fear is losing the people who she loves,” said Elliott. “She has dark thoughts, concerned of her family, and concerned of her family dying, and she wants to protect them. Those were dark thoughts for her.”

For help, the elf turns to friendship. And it’s someone loyal she can trust: Elenio. The two elves remain close—even when Galena tries to shove bread up his nose.

“When you’re in your dark thoughts, it’s very hard to get through it, but when you have a friend or commitment partner, it’s always easier to get through it with a friend or a commitment partner….someone who can say, I’m here, you’re going to get through this,” Elliott said.

Elliott will be one of the local authors signing books at the Toast to Summer & Hot Air Balloon Glow on June 25 at the Fayette County Airport. She will have copies of the first book in “The Sword of Lumina” trilogy, “Mira’s View”, on sale for $10. Erin Elliot can be reached on Facebook.

Mira’s View, the first book in The Sword of Lumina trilogy.

http://recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Mirasviewbook-1.jpgMira’s View, the first book in The Sword of Lumina trilogy.

Erin Elliott and her daughter.

http://recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_erin-elliott-and-child-1.jpgErin Elliott and her daughter.

Erin Elliott and her family.

http://recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_erin-elliott-and-family-1.jpgErin Elliott and her family. Photo courtesy of Stacy Coy

Erin Elliott will be signing copies of her books at the Fayette County Toast to Summer & Hot Air Balloon Glow in June. Photo | Kristen Edmondson

http://recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_erin-elliott-1.jpgErin Elliott will be signing copies of her books at the Fayette County Toast to Summer & Hot Air Balloon Glow in June. Photo | Kristen Edmondson Photo courtesy of Stacy Coy

Heartsong is Elliott’s fourth book published since 2013.

http://recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_heartsong-1.jpgHeartsong is Elliott’s fourth book published since 2013. Photo courtesy of Stacy Coy